Crudbonnet 846 leads NS 38G at Royersford image

How does this one rank on your Most Unappealing Lead Unit List??? Santa Fe unit leads NS general freight 38G eastbound by Royersford PA on the Harrisburg Line. BNSF management should be at least somewhat ashamed of this locomotive being allowed to represent the RR which has been in this condition for years - absolutely a disaster for the eyes. It's my understanding that GE is substantially responsible too in that the quality of the original paint was nowhere near as good as that applied to EMD warbonnets:

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=213148&nseq=2

Lee

As C3PO would say,

"Oh My."

I have reached this conclusion about Warbonnet painted locomotives. If they have been operating in the desert for a while the paint is going to get abused much more than if the locomotive was in a different climate. If the locomotive is in certain areas it is going to get tagged and I doubt that taggers care about a Warbonnet's beauty. You have Warbonnets that look pretty good almost excellent and then you have Warbonnets that look absolutely hideous.

Well I'm sure that there are some nice ones, but I have never actually managed to catch one good looker on the lead here in the east - send one out when ya get a chance!

Lee J. King

Excuse me for slightly sidetracking: would the shabby loco on issue have hauled freight also when its paintwork was in top condition ?

lucakiki,

BNSF does not operate any passenger trains on its tracks, except for Amtrak trains (Amtrak has an agreement with BNSF to run their trains on some of their tracks) and special BNSF inspection trains that use old passenger equipment.

So, most of BNSF's locomotives are used to pull frieght trains.

Komachi wrote:lucakiki,

BNSF does not operate any passenger trains on its tracks, except for Amtrak trains (Amtrak has an agreement with BNSF to run their trains on some of their tracks) and special BNSF inspection trains that use old passenger equipment.

So, most of BNSF's locomotives are used to pull frieght trains.

So, is it OK to say that the loco in the picture would have done the depicted kind of duty when it still had a fresh livery?

I like seeing ugly engines like that. When all you see is 50 coal trains pulled by brand new engines go by everyday, you learn to appreciate anything that is different. I'm sure that engine pulls freight just as good with ugly paint as it would with new orange paint, I'm pretty sure thats the companies stance on the issue as well. If they did repaint it it would be orange and boring so I hope it runs like that for another 20 years!

Trust me those things run as crappy as they look. They are rattletraps. Under high amperage at low speeds the desktop control stand feels like its going to shake itself out and go down into the nose. Most of those 800's are getting pretty wore out.

lucakiki,

I can't say for certian. Work and inspection trains are like freight trains in that they have a job to do and as long as the locomotive runs, they don't care how it looks.

Now, for something like an employee special, or a train where the CEO and other important railroad executives are on board, the railroad would want to have a good image for the railroad, so they would use a very clean and shiny locomotive (or two or three).

Thank you! Let me rephrase the question: would a brand new locomotive in that very livery be ever used to haul freight?

Yes and no.

Brand new locomotives with fresh paint haul freight trains all the time.

But there won't be any new warbonnets, unless BNSF wants to do a heritage unit, or wants to re-introduce the warbonnet.

So a new BNSF locomotive will have the new orange and black scheme.

Like this...

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=122043

Excuse me, it must be my faulty english. What I would like to know is to know is: what would this very locomotive, or another one in the same livery, have done when it was new. They must have been new at one time, before the paint faded and peeled: so, what would they have been hauling then ?
Thank you.

I'm pretty sure that engine has hauled freight its whole life, SF stopped carrying passengers before this engine was built.

Exactly.

What he said.


Oh, and, lucakiki, don't worry about your English, it is very good. If you feel we are not answering a question to your satisfaction, feel free to clarify.